On a Mission from God

I consider myself a spiritual person, but I view spirituality as a personal matter. What I believe is between me and my god. Which brings me to today’s topic.

What happens when an artist decides that his or her spirituality is something that they can no longer keep inside? Not that they weren’t living their life in harmony with their god before, but now they have to tell everyone about it wherever they go. They talk about it, sing about it, write about it, act about it, and paint about it. Whatever they do is no longer just about how well they do it but about how their god deserves all of the credit for what they do.

Some people would call this evangelism. It’s spreading the glory of god in hope that someone else will drink the Kool-Aid. But even if you were only surrounded by people who believed exactly what you did (in which case, your shouts of praise would be pretty redundant), you are walking a fine line between glorifying your god and annoying the living hell out of anyone within earshot.

If you’ve seen Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s monkey dance, you know what I’m talking about.

Let’s pretend for a second Steve is not at a developer’s conference, but is instead onstage at at a megachurch somewhere outside Louisville, Kentucky.

INT. MEGACHURCH – DAY

STEVE BALLMER, a balding, middle-aged born-again, runs onto stage filled with his love of god. His enthusiasm spills over into the crowd causing several people to faint. A few aisles back a woman hits her head. Paramedics rush in and begin CPR in the aisle. Steve ignores this incident and the others that follow and continues to ride a bucking pony of holy spirit across the stage.

STEVE
(slapping the holy spirit’s ass)
Giddyup! Whooooooooooooooooooo!
Come on! Give it up for me!

Steve’s punch breaks the sound barrier and the resulting sound shatters the eardrums of congregation members in the first 10 rows. Steve gets off his pony and ties it to the baptismal font.

STEVE
Come on!

He walks to the podium breathing heavily.

STEVE
Who said sit down?!!

The congregation, which han’nt actually been standing, stands.

STEVE
I’ve got four words for you.
I – LOVE – MY – GOD!!!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAH!!!

Steve smashes a few gnats with his meaty hands and begins hyperventilating.

It’s a bit much. Don’t ya think? I mean, these are people who agree with you. But after repeated exultations like this, even the people who agree with you are going to wish you would just shut the hell up.

The congregation shakes its collective head.

CONGREGATION
(in unison)
We know.
(sighing)
We know. You LOVE God.

So how do you think it sounds to the rest of us? Those of us who have a different god, a different relationship with god, or don’t even believe in god?

It sounds sooooooo annoying that we won’t even listen to you anymore. Everything else you say falls on deaf ears because we’re afraid that at any moment you might jump back up on the one-trick pony of the holy spirit and start beating it with your meaty hands again.

It’s a fine enough line to walk without becoming irritating, but once you’re out there’s no going back. Because there’s an even finer line between hypocrisy and what you tell everyone you believe. (I’m looking at you Isaac Hayes).

Plenty of actors, writers, and musicians have found god over the years, but few of them succeeded in remaining artistically relevant because they began to drive people insane with religious posturing. And as a result, they disappear.

One musician who disappeared is Andy Pratt. “Andy who?” you ask. ANDY PRATT.

After graduating from Harvard in the late ’60s, he began a long musical career that kicked off with the 1973 hit single, “Avenging Annie.” Partly scored to Woody Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd”, the song was the B-side on the CBS promotional record for Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light,” and later recorded by Roger Daltrey. Also featured on Pratt’s eponymous major label debut, “Avenging Annie” charted as high as #80 on the national Billboard chart, and #1 in give major cities. And it probably should’ve charted even higher – it’s a really good song.

Pratt was devastated by the death of his father in 1975, and entered Boston’s Life Institute is search of a higher purpose. He met many people while there and left with the material for what later became 1976’s critically acclaimed “Resolution.”

But that was as high as Andy’s star would climb. After releasing another album, “Shiver in the Night” in 1977, he recorded one more record for Nemporer, 1979’s “Motives.” The album, on which Andy sang openly about his Christian beliefs, signaled Andy’s status as born-again, and, in Andy’s words, his “big-time career ended.”

Andy continued to record as a Christian artist, though, and he enters ever so briefly into the public eye tonight at South by Southwest in Austin. Considering that the track posted on SXSW’s site is “Avenging Annie”, I’m guessing he will be playing mostly from his pre-1979 catalog.

When Pratt’s music stopped being about the music and started being about his religious beliefs, none of the major labels would touch him and he disappeared from the mainstream consciousness. So how have artists like Sufjan Stevens, Pedro the Lion, or the Danielson Famile, managed to remain relevant despite being open about their spirituality? How have they acknowledged their love of god without alienating audiences.

In an interview with Pitchfork, Stevens said:

I think that when people react reflexively to material that is religious, they’re reacting to the culture of religion. And I think an enlightened person is capable, on some level, of making the distinction between the institution of the culture and the culture itself.

So with that in mind budding indie rockers, here are few tips on how to remain spiritual without driving your audience away:

Keep your relationship with god to yourself. It’s your personal relationship.

If you must talk about god, keep it subtle. Talk about god and your beliefs in abstract terms.

And, finally don’t overuse phrases like, “I love you, Jesus Christ,” unless you are being ironic.

• Listen to Andy Pratt – Avenging Annie

Buy Andy Pratt – Andy Pratt from Amazon